Systems and methods for adjusting threshold voltage

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for adjusting threshold voltage. A threshold voltage of a transistor of an integrated circuit is measured. A bias voltage, which when applied to a body well of the transistor corrects a difference between the threshold voltage and a desired threshold voltage for the transistor, is determined. The bias voltage is encoded into non-volatile storage on the integrated circuit. The non-volatile storage can be digital and/or analog.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional Application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/787,908, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,598,731, filed Apr. 17, 2007,which in turn was a Divisional Application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/771,015, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,205,758, filed Feb. 2, 2004.Both applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention relate to systemsand methods for adjusting threshold voltage.

BACKGROUND

It is desirable to adjust threshold voltages of transistors in highlyintegrated semiconductors, e.g., microprocessors, for a variety ofreasons including, for example, to reduce power consumption and heatgeneration of such integrated circuits and/or to eliminate processvariation effects on threshold voltage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, systems and methods of adjusting threshold voltage would behighly desirable.

Accordingly, systems and methods for adjusting threshold voltage aredisclosed. In accordance with a first embodiment of the presentinvention, a threshold voltage of a transistor of an integrated circuitis measured. A bias voltage, which when applied to a body well of thetransistor corrects a difference between the threshold voltage and adesired threshold voltage for the transistor, is determined. The measureof the bias voltage may be encoded into non-volatile storage on theintegrated circuit. The non-volatile storage can be digital and/oranalog. In one embodiment, the non-volatile storage is computer usable.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a biasvoltage representation is accessed from non-volatile storage of anintegrated circuit. A bias voltage corresponding to the bias voltagerepresentation is generated. The bias voltage is coupled to body biasingwells of the integrated circuit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an integrated circuit in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart of a method of encoding thresholdvoltage adjustments for an integrated circuit, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart for a method of biasing an integratedcircuit, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description of the present invention, systemsand methods for encoding threshold voltage adjustments, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. However, it will be recognizedby one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practicedwithout these specific details or with equivalents thereof. In otherinstances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits havenot been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects ofthe present invention.

Notation and Nomenclature

Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow (e.g., methods200 and 300) are presented in terms of procedures, steps, logic blocks,processing, and other symbolic representations of operations on databits that can be performed on computer memory. These descriptions andrepresentations are the means used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. A procedure, computer executed step, logicblock, process, etc., is here, and generally, conceived to be aself-consistent sequence of steps or instructions leading to a desiredresult. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physicalquantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take theform of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored,transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated in a computersystem. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons ofcommon usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements,symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the followingdiscussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present invention,discussions utilizing terms such as “storing” or “dividing” or“computing” or “testing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “storing’”or “measuring” or “adjusting” or “generating” or “performing” or“comparing” or “synchronizing” or “accessing’” or “retrieving’” or“conveying’” or “sending” or “resuming’” or “installing” or “gathering”or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, orsimilar electronic computing device” that manipulates and transformsdata represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computersystem's registers and memories into other data similarly represented asphysical quantities within the computer system memories or registers orother such information storage, transmission or display devices.

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention are described inthe context of design and operation of integrated semiconductors. Moreparticularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to systems andmethods for adjusting threshold voltage. It is appreciated, however,that elements of the present invention may be utilized in other areas ofsemiconductor operation.

The following description of embodiments in accordance with the presentinvention is directed toward coupling a body-bias voltage to pFETs (orp-type MOSFETS) formed in surface N-wells when a p-type substrate and anN-well process are utilized. For example, the coupling can comprise aconductive sub-surface region of N-type doping. In one embodiment,coupling a body-bias voltage to nFETs (or n-type MOSFETS) can beaccomplished through the p-substrate.

It is to be appreciated, however, that embodiments in accordance withthe present invention are equally applicable to coupling a body-biasvoltage to nFETs (or n-type MOSFETS) formed in surface P-wells when ann-type substrate and a P-well process are utilized, e.g., comprising aconductive sub-surface region of P-type doping. Consequently,embodiments in accordance with the present invention are well suited tosemiconductors formed in n-type materials, and such embodiments areconsidered within the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an integrated circuit 100 in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. Integrated circuit 100 comprises abody bias voltage distribution network 110 for coupling a body biasvoltage to a plurality of body biasing wells of the integrated circuit.The plurality of body biasing wells enable threshold voltage adjustmentsof transistors fabricated within such wells. Body bias voltagedistribution network 110 can comprise deep well structures, e.g., a deepn-well.

Integrated circuit 100 further comprises non-volatile storage 120 forstoring a representation of a body bias voltage. Non-volatile storage120 can comprise a variety of well known non-volatile memory types, forexample, flash memory, electrically erasable programmable read onlymemory, one-time programmable fuses, magnetic structures, e.g.,magneto-resistive random access memory, and the like. Such non-volatilememory types are well suited to storing a digital representation of abody bias voltage, e.g., a plurality of bit values. It is appreciatedthat such digital representations of a body bias voltage are well suitedto access by a computer.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, non-volatilestorage 120 can also store an analog representation of a body biasvoltage. For example, a quantity of charge corresponding to the bodybias voltage can be stored in a floating gate. In accordance with otherembodiments of the present invention, such an analog representation of abody bias voltage can be used to directly control generation of a bodybias voltage. For example, a charge stored on a floating gate caninfluence a current utilized by a voltage source to generate the biasvoltage.

Integrated circuit 100 optionally comprises a body bias voltage source130 for generating the body bias voltage. Integrated circuit 100 canalso optionally comprise an electrical contact 140 for coupling the bodybias voltage from an external source.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, therepresentation of a body bias voltage stored in non-volatile storage 120can directly control a body bias voltage source. For example, a bodybias voltage source, e.g., body bias voltage source 130, can comprise adigital to analog converter 135. An input value for the digital toanalog converter can be drawn directly from cells of non-volatilestorage 120, for example without an explicit read operation. Inaddition, as previously described, an analog representation of a bodybias voltage can be used directly in the generation of a body biasvoltage.

In accordance with other embodiments of the present invention, therepresentation of a body bias voltage stored in non-volatile storage 120can be retrieved under software control, e.g., by a microprocessor, andprovided to a body bias voltage source, e.g., body bias voltage source130 or a body bias voltage source external to the integrated circuit, asa programmable value. Retrieval by software enables a wide variety ofcomputer-implemented adjustments to the representation of a body biasvoltage, for example, combining the stored value with other compensationfactors, e.g., to adjust for temperature and/or operating frequencyconditions.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart of a computer controlled method 200 ofencoding threshold voltage adjustments for an integrated circuit, inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention. In block 210, athreshold voltage of a transistor of the integrated circuit is measured.Such measurements can be performed by a variety of well knownprocedures, e.g., by conventional integrated circuit testers, either ata wafer level or for individual integrated circuits. It is to beappreciated that even though threshold voltages can be subject to largevariations across an integrated circuit, a target encoding cancompensate for disparities between a threshold voltage of the devicesbeing measured and individual or aggregate behavior of devices beingcontrolled.

In block 220, a bias voltage, which when applied to a body well of thetransistor corrects a difference between the threshold voltage and adesired threshold voltage for the transistor, is determined. Thedetermining may be performed in a closed loop measurement operation, inone example. For example, a bias voltage is applied to the transistor'sbody well and the threshold voltage of the transistor is measured. Thebias voltage can be adjusted, e.g., increased or decreased, until thedesired threshold voltage is achieved. In accordance with otherembodiments of the present invention, the bias voltage necessary forthreshold voltage correction may also be determined in an open loopmanner, e.g., via automated calculation and/or by reference to a lookuptable based upon a measurement of threshold voltage.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, a desiredthreshold voltage can be selected from among a wide variety of thresholdvoltages. For example, a desired threshold voltage can be asemiconductor process nominal threshold voltage. In such a case, otherembodiments in accordance with the present invention can enableoperation of a semiconductor at a process nominal threshold voltage,eliminating threshold voltage process variations. Alternatively, adesired threshold voltage could be selected to enable low poweroperation, e.g., at a particular operating frequency.

In block 230, the bias voltage is written or otherwise encoded intonon-volatile storage on the integrated circuit. The non-volatile storagecan comprise a variety of types of analog and/or digital non-volatilestorage, including, for example, flash memory, electrically erasableprogrammable read only memory, one time programmable fuses, floatinggates, capacitors, magnetic structures and the like.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart for a method 300 of biasing anintegrated circuit, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. In block 310, a bias voltage representation is accessed fromnon-volatile storage of the integrated circuit. The accessing can beperformed substantially by hardware. For example, bit values stored innon-volatile memory cells can directly drive a digital to analogconverter utilized in a bias voltage supply. Embodiments in accordancewith the present invention are well suited to accessing suchnon-volatile memory cells with a hardware controlled “read” operation,as well as being well suited to a memory cell value directly driving asignal line. Alternatively, an analog quantity corresponding to a biasvoltage can be utilized directly in bias voltage supply circuitry.Alternatively, a bias voltage representation can be accessed undersoftware control, e.g., by a microprocessor, and subsequently loadedinto a bias voltage supply.

In block 320, a bias voltage corresponding to the bias voltagerepresentation is generated, for example by body bias voltage source 130of FIG. 1. In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, suchbias voltage generation can be performed either on the integratedcircuit or external to the integrated circuit.

Still referring to FIG. 3, in block 330, the bias voltage is applied tobody biasing wells of the integrated circuit. If the bias voltage wasgenerated external to the integrated circuit, the bias voltage can befurther coupled to the integrated circuit, for example via contact 140of FIG. 1.

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention provide foradjusting threshold voltages of transistors in highly integratedsemiconductors, e.g., microprocessors, for example to reduce powerconsumption and heat generation of such integrated circuits and/or toeliminate process variation effects on threshold voltage.

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention, systems andmethods for measuring, reading, accessing and adjusting thresholdvoltage, are thus described. While the present invention has beendescribed in particular embodiments, it should be appreciated that thepresent invention should not be construed as limited by suchembodiments, but rather construed according to the below claims.

1. A method comprising: accessing a bias voltage representation fromnon-volatile storage of an integrated circuit; generating a bias voltagecorresponding to said bias voltage representation; and applying saidbias voltage to a body biasing well of said integrated circuit.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 wherein said generating is performed on saidintegrated circuit.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said accessing isperformed substantially by hardware.
 4. The method of claim 1 whereinsaid accessing is performed under software control.
 5. The method ofclaim 1 wherein said bias voltage representation is analog.
 6. Themethod of claim 1 wherein said bias voltage representation is digital.7. The method of claim 6 wherein said applying comprises coupling saidbias voltage from a source external to said integrated circuit.
 8. Amethod comprising: accessing a voltage representation from non-volatilestorage of an integrated circuit; generating a voltage corresponding tosaid voltage representation; and applying said voltage to a body well ofsaid integrated circuit to achieve a desired threshold voltage.
 9. Themethod of claim 8 wherein said voltage representation comprises adigital representation of said voltage.